
The past feels astonishingly present in Debbie Levy's comprehensive and conversational A Dangerous Idea, a nonfiction work for young readers about the 1925 battle over evolution in the classroom that features a book ban, sensationalistic journalism, celebrities turned politicians, and sparring over curriculum.
John T. Scopes was fresh off his first year of teaching when "the leading citizens of the tiny burg of Dayton, Tennessee" summoned him to the drugstore for a chat. Scopes had unwittingly violated the Butler Act, a newly enacted law in defense of biblical literalism that prohibited teaching evolution. Scopes did so by employing Tennessee's standard biology textbook. Would Scopes, the Dayton citizens asked, "be willing to stand for a test case?" Dayton hoped for "a little publicity," but the subsequent trial turned into a full-fledged media circus when legendary charismatic soliloquists and lawyers William Jennings Bryan and Clarence Darrow came to town. The two faced off in "a celebrity slugfest" in what became the first trial broadcast on radio. The town flooded with visitors, and newspapers across the country published daily updates: "There was never before, and has never been, another day in court like it."
Sibert Honor winner Debbie Levy (This Promise of Change; We Shall Overcome) carefully traces the tandem meteoric rises of Bryan and Darrow and the evolutionary opposing views that led to their involvement in the Scopes "Monkey Trial." The text is richly enhanced with archival photos while cinematic descriptions of trial scenes benefit from transcript excerpts and pithy newspaper quotes. A Dangerous Idea should hold appeal for readers in search of historical context around politically shrouded efforts to shelter students from information. Though when history repeats itself, we should all pay attention. --Kit Ballenger, youth librarian, Help Your Shelf